The Luca Brasi Story soars on upbeat productions like Swiff D’s “Paper Chasers” and Nard & B’s “Hero”, which apply Kevin Gates’ sing-song cadence to 808s and frenetic synth runs. He’s got his method down pat, so The Luca Brasi Story really lives or dies on the kinds of songs he chooses to apply it to. That might sound like a strange brew, but Luca Brasi’s portraits of lonesome lotharios and traphouse paper chasers all teeter over the same the brink of collapse, and the intensity and break in Gates’ voice make it the perfect vehicle for these stories of desperation.
Street anthems like “Paper Chasers” and “Weight” hold court with tender tales of love under duress like “Arms of a Stranger” and “Twilight” (yes, that Twilight). Gates shares that devotion to matters of the heart and matters of the street, and The Luca Brasi Story oscillates wildly between the two poles. Gates openly plays off the complexity of his character in naming the mixtape after The Godfather’s Luca Brasi, a brutal but unerringly loyal contract killer whose first scene in the film adaptation shows him mulling over how best to present a gift to the don’s daughter at her wedding. Gates has been at it at least as long as either of them, and his new mixtape The Luca Brasi Story imbues trap’s claustrophobic bleakness with an emotional nakedness, capable lyricism, and melodic certitude many of its recent breakout stars have lacked. He’s more technically gifted at both than Future, whose acerbic croak is often cloaked in a mist of Auto-Tune, and he’s more weathered and streetwise than Drake, whose background in soap opera acting undercuts his talk of hardship of its relatability. His similarities to those artists starts and ends with the fact that he’s a capable rapper and singer. Gates’ mixtapes peruse an emotive, melodic style that often gets him incorrectly lumped into the same milieu as introspective lady-killers like Drake and Future. It’s a shame they couldn’t find a use for him. Gates got a taste of nationwide notoriety after inking a deal with Lil Wayne’s YMCMB imprint a year ago but spent most of his tenure there on ice with YMCMB’s well-populated roster of benchwarmers. Louisiana rapper Kevin Gates is a star on par with Lil Boosie around his stomping grounds in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, but he hasn’t had much luck in popping nationally.
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